Just Like Honey
by chiigusa
Summary: Reno and Elena go out drinking after a mission. Soon the night turns into be a lot more than they bargained for when a life is threatened. Will the two Turks become closer or will other matters get in the way of their feelings? RenoxElena


**Title**: Just Like Honey  
**Author**: SakuSelphie17  
**Rated**: PG-13  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of the FFVII Characters. 

The two youngest Turks left their boss' office after delivering their report from their latest mission. The night was still young and the red haired Turk didn't want to call it an early one. He looked over at the blonde woman walking beside him with his trademark smirk, "So, do you have any plans tonight?"

Elena paused for a moment in confusion. Was Reno actually asking her to spend time outside of a mission? She responded cautiously, "No…why?"

Reno noticed her hesitation, which only increased his smirk, "'Cause I was wonderin' if you wanted to go out and get a drink with me? I know this great place just a couple blocks from here."

Elena's eyebrow raised, "Are you sure you're even allowed in any bars around here? It seems like all you do is go to bars, get drunk, and start fights. I'm not sure if I want to deal with that."

The two continued walking, making it to the lobby of ShinRa headquarters. As they walked, Reno persisted, slyly slipping an arm around the young woman's shoulders as they both stopped in front of the door, "Come on, 'Lena, I'll be on my best behavior." He flashed her a grin, "I promise."

Elena crossed her arms, looking away from him for a moment, "I don't know…" She knew they were off-duty now, but doing anything as unprofessional as going to a bar with Reno did not appeal to her. Then again, she did not really feel like going back to her dull apartment to watch the Midgar News. After a beat, she let out a sigh, "Fine. I'll go."

Reno's grin widened, "Great!" He removed his arm from her shoulders and walked out of the lobby with Elena close behind. She hoped Tseng would not find out about this, then again maybe it would make him jealous. After all, she was going out at night with a man. The man was Reno, but still. Not that she even thought Tseng gave one care about her in that way, but it was worth a shot. Plus, she had just completed a mission, she deserved a little fun. "Trying to convince yourself this is a good idea?" Reno's words interrupted her thoughts.

She looked at him, "What? Oh…no, I was just--"

"'Cause you hadn't said anything and we're already here," he said quickly.

She turned her gaze from him to land on the entrance of the bar. The neon sign above was so bright it was attracting moths. "Great… not just a bar, but a sleazy bar," she mumbled under her breath. She let out a breath and walked past him, opening the door, "Let's just get this over with."

Reno arched an eyebrow at her, following her inside. The place was overcrowded, noisy, and smelled of sweat and dried blood. As soon as she stepped inside, her nose wrinkled and eyes widened. This was the place they were going to be drinking at? She hoped the cups were washed, at least. Reno noticed her discomfort and let out a light laugh. "Never been to one of these places, eh?"

She shook her head, "No…does it always smell like this? I feel like I'm getting ten different diseases just by standing here."

Reno let out another laugh and grabbed her wrist, "Come on, there's two seats open at the bar." She gritted her teeth and let him lead her to the bar. She stared at the stools as Reno sat down on his without a care. They looked like the covers were falling off, the stuffing was coming out of the side, and the entire thing looked as though it could topple over at any moment. She carefully sat down on the stool beside Reno, looking surprised when it held her up.

The crowds in the bar seemed nervous when they saw the suits walk into the bar. Everyone knew a Turk suit when they saw them and usually Turks meant bad news. A few people got up and left, but the two didn't seem to notice.

Reno continued watching her for a moment, shaking his head at how disgusted she seemed. He ordered a drink for himself and for her. The bartended left to make them and Reno looked at her, "Welcome to a Midgar Slums Bar, Elena."

Elena looked around, "Oh, yeah, I feel real welcomed here."

The bartended returned with their drinks. Elena's wrinkled nose returned, while Reno downed his drink quickly, immediately ordering another. "What's in this?" she asked.

"Oh, just drink it. Be adventurous for once," Reno said as his second drink was put in front of him. He was trying to loosen her up, but wasn't very successful.

"If this has some weird date-rape stuff in it, I'm going to call Tseng on you," Elena said as she took a few sips from her drink. It was pretty strong, but didn't taste too horrible.

Reno couldn't help but roll his eyes and suddenly said, "Tseng, Tseng, Tseng, whatever."

She took another drink before tilting her head at him as she asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, why are you not over him yet?"

The question startled her, "O-over him? I-I'm not, I mean, I don't--"

"Save it, 'Lena. Everyone knows about your little crush," Reno said as his third drink arrived.

She frowned for a moment, "Well, so? I can like whoever I want." She quickly downed the rest of her drink.

Reno let the side of his mouth curve upward into a smirk once again. "Yeah, you can, but it's useless to like someone who doesn't give a shit about you."

Her mouth fell open for a moment, "W-what do you mean? He's my boss…I mean, he has to care about me." She paused for a moment before deciding to order her second drink.

"Well, of course he cares about you because you're his employee, but other than that, no. You should really give it up and get over him," Reno said, turning his body to face her more, his glass in hand.

"You don't know that," Elena said defensively as she picked up her second drink forcefully.

Reno shrugged, taking a swig, "Fine, think what you want. I'm just trying to help."

Elena eyed him for a moment before finishing her second. She didn't know what to think and frankly, she didn't care at the moment. She just wanted to desperately change the subject, "So, how often do you go and do this?"

"Do what? Go out and drink?" She nodded. "As often as I can," he said with a genuine smile.

"Really?" She took a sip of her refilled drink, "I would think we would get in trouble for this kind of stuff…"

Reno shook his head, "Nope, and hey, we're off-duty, so there's no harm in it." He then paused, not remembering her ever coming with him and Rude after a mission, "Wait…so you've never done this?"

She couldn't help but feel embarrassed. She never thought she would have been invited or welcomed with them, so she never asked to go. She looked down at her drink, "Never…and I've never really drank much either. Well, not enough to get drunk."

He shook his head, "Oh, Elena, you have so much to learn." He then met her eyes, a smile playing on his lips, "We'll just have to make this experience count."

She couldn't help but let herself smile a little, "All right…but, I'm only having one more drink!"

He let out a light laugh, "That's fine, that's fine. I'm not pressuring you, anyway."

She nodded as she finished the last of her current drink, "Good. Wait…how many was that?"

Reno laughed more, "Don't ask me." Shaking his head, he laid it on the bar, on top of his arm. He gazed up at her with a soft smile.

She looked over at him, meeting his gaze and suddenly felt a blush come into her cheeks. She quickly averted her gaze from him. She had definitely had too many drinks if Reno was making her blush. She reached up, wiping her forehead as she regained her composure. As she looked back up, she saw that the room took a little longer for her eyes to focus than before. Reno had been watching her and noticed the blush, deciding not to comment on it, but he had to admit, it intrigued him. As she looked back over at him, he noticed that her frame was swaying on the stool as if she was having a difficult time sitting up. He raised an eyebrow at the young Turk, "You okay, 'Lena?"

She cocked her head in confusion, "What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I'm totally fine. You know, better than fine. This was a good idea, Reno." Her faint smile suddenly widened, which was a rare thing for her as she always tried to keep a serious attitude towards most everything. She thought it was how a Turk should always act.

He had to admit, her smile was beautiful and it was nice to see, even if it was in the dimly lit bar. He put his hand on her knee because it was the closest thing he could reach, "Good, I'm glad you're good," he smiled softly at her again, gleefully riding his buzz. He knew he wasn't drunk and wouldn't trust himself around her or the company of the bar drunk. So, he decided to quit drinking for the time being.

She giggled shyly at his touch. It was obvious that the alcohol was affecting her and that she was quite drunk by now. 'Definitely a lightweight,' Reno thought, 'Gotta remember that for next time…' Elena could see the room getting fuzzier by the minute, but she didn't seem to care. She was enjoying herself. All her cares about missions and Tseng seemed to disappear, but there was something she had noticed. Usually she kept her thoughts to herself, but the alcohol let her ask it, "Hey, Reno," she started, laying her head on the bar next to his.

He moved his gaze to meet her eyes, his hand still resting on her knee. "Hmm?" he murmured.

"Before, you know, when you were saying those things about Tseng, you sounded kind of, umm…jealous. Or was I just imagining that?" she asked him as though it was nothing.

The question caught him off guard, and he instinctively removed his hand and sat up, "What?" Did he? He didn't intend to sound that way. He was just…voicing his opinion. Yeah, that was it. He had known Tseng longer than she had. He would know more. "I think you're just drinking too much and imagining things," he said quickly. "Maybe we should just go." He stood up slowly, making sure to retain his balance.

She frowned, lifting up her head, "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, I think it's just time to go," Reno said, reaching into his pocket for some gil for the drinks. She started to reach into hers, but he held up his hand, "Don't. I got it covered." He took her by the wrist again, helping her stand up. She was more than a little wobbly, and Reno held onto her wrist until she was standing still.

"I'm fine," she said quietly. She didn't know why they were cutting the night so short, but figured it was her fault somehow. She let out a soft sigh as she followed Reno out of the bar. Reno walked slowly so that Elena could keep up without falling over numerous times. After a few minutes passed, Elena spoke softly, "I'm sorry, Reno…"

Looking down at her, he said, "Sorry? What are you so sorry about? You didn't do anything."

She continued watching the ground, "I don't know…it seems like we just left because of what I said."

He shook his head, putting his arm around her as he noticed her losing her balance again, "No, that wasn't it. I think it was just time to go. Believe me, I know when it's time to go in places like that."

"Oh, all right…" Elena somehow didn't believe him, but it didn't matter. It was in the past now. She then noticed that the air outside felt very crisp after being in the smelly, stuffy bar for so long. She smiled up at the sky, "It's so nice out tonight," she said, leaning against him.

He glanced down at her and smiled a little, "Yeah, not too shabby."

They walked down the street towards Elena's apartment when they heard heavy footsteps behind them. The two chose to ignore them until a loud, deep voice rang out, "Turk scum, stop right there."

Reno and Elena stopped walking, while the man walked up to them. Reno helped Elena turn around to look at the man who approached them, "Yeah? What do you want?" he asked, choosing to ignore the 'scum' insult.

"Can we help you?" Elena asked innocently.

"I saw you two in the bar. We don't take too kindly to ShinRa's lapdogs in our bars," the man replied, who was a good foot taller than Reno and had practically bulging muscles underneath his clothes.

"Well, it's a damn good thing we're not in the bar anymore, isn't it?" Said Reno, not feeling intimidated by him.

"You're going to regret stepping foot in there," the man's voice boomed.

"I don't regret anything. I love everything I do," Reno said with an amused smirk. Was this guy serious? Was he actually trying to attack them on the street for going into a bar and not causing trouble?

Elena yawned. She was feeling sleepy and didn't feel like dealing with this. She just wanted to go home now and lay down. "Can you just leave us alone? We didn't do anything. We had a couple drinks and left. Now, we're just trying to go home…so, maybe you should do the same," she calmly said, although her words were slightly slurred.

The woman's confidence amused the large man, "Since when did they let little girls into the Turks?" he scoffed at her.

For some reason, this just pissed the blonde off. She moved out from under Reno's supportive arm and stepped in front of him, glaring up at the man, "S-since now! And you're the one that's going to be regretting anything since you said that! So-so, you better just get out of here, or we're gonna have to unleash some Turk pain on you!"

Reno was taken aback by Elena's outburst and stepped up beside her, "I suggest you listen to the lady because if I were you, I wouldn't want to mess with her. She fights dirty." Glancing down at her, he flashed her a quick grin. He was kind of proud of her for stepping up like that.

"Dirty. She just kills people. Nothing to be proud of," the man shook his head, looking disgusted at the both of them.

Elena let out a sigh. She was getting bored of this guy and either wanted to fight him or just walk away. However, she knew she was not in the right mind state to get into any sort of fight. Reno was not as dismissing as Elena this time, "Listen, asshole, we do what we have to do. If we were ordered to, we'd be killing your dumb ass as soon as we could."

As Reno spoke, Elena could sense something bad was going to happen. She wanted to be prepared. Luckily, her vision was getting less blurry as the minutes passed. She moved behind Reno slightly to try and hide as she pulled her handgun out of her jacket pocket and holding onto it, but making sure the sleeve of her jacket covered most of it. She was not aware that the silver tip was shining out in the night. The man caught a glimpse of it, and there was a sudden spark in his eye. The man forcefully pushed Reno out of the way, knocking him onto the ground and advanced on Elena, leering down at her, "Trying to be sneaky, little girl? Maybe you should go back to training."

Her mouth hung open in surprise as Reno had been pushed to the ground and in anger at what the man had the nerve to say to her. She wasn't sure what to do. So, she just followed her instincts. She took a few steps back, the gun raising up and aimed at the man's chest. The man came closer until the nozzle was against his chest, "Do it, I dare ya," he teased her with a grin.

Reno got up quickly, "That's not gonna fly with me, man." He pulled out his closed-up rod from his jacket pocket, and with a flick of his wrist, it extended. "You really want to back away from the lady," he edged closer to Elena, putting his free hand on her shoulder and moving it over to her forearm urging her arm downward slowly. "We're really not in the mood for killin'. We just came out for some friendly drinks. And now we're just on our way home. So, just turn around and we'll forget this ever happened, 'kay?"

The man seemed to oblige to Reno's request slowly turning around without a word. The pair watched him for a few moments before turning around as well and heading back towards Elena's apartment. He spoke quietly to her, his arm around her again, "Phew,…Damn, 'Lena, didn't know you were so short tempered. I'll remember not to ever piss you off," he grinned down at her. Little did they know, the man had a gun of his own shoved up his sleeve. He turned around quickly, aimed, and fired.

The shot rang out through the streets. Elena and Reno both froze in their tracks. Reno let out a breath, knowing he had not been hit. He looked over at Elena, quickly saying, "Guess the guy's a shitty shot, eh?" Suddenly, Elena fell out from under his arm, collapsing to her knees. Her face was sheet white and her mouth was hanging open in shock as she was suddenly gasping for air. Reno's eyes widened, realizing she had been hit. "Fuck!" he yelled. He knew he had to do something to the man before he could help her or everything would get worse.  
He ran over, rod in hand, knocking the gun from the man's hand. The man grunted as he felt a blow to his stomach and the air flow out of him. Reno wasted no time in delivering several blows to the man's back, chest, and head. The man was soon lying unconscious on the ground.

Reno rushed back over to wounded Turk, who was now holding herself with a bloody hand and her other hand on the concrete, holding herself up. "Oh, god, Elena…" Reno said, looking at her pale, sweat-dripping face. The strength in her arm faltered, and she fell to her side. He removed his jacket, not realizing his hands were shaking. He placed it underneath her head as he rolled her onto her back. She stared up at him blankly, her hand desperately holding onto the wound that seemed to have a never-ending flow of blood. He patted his pockets, remembering he had a cell phone for an emergency just like this. He quickly dialed the medical ward at ShinRa Headquarters, "I-I need an emergency vehicle right away. Elena…she-she's a Turk. She's wounded….yes, bullet wound. To-to her stomach area….Stop the flow of blood for now. Right. Okay." He hung up the phone, knowing they would get the location from the kind of cell phone he had.

"Reno…?" Elena's voice was quiet. She was still in a state of shock as sweat poured down her face, and she seemed to be staring up at him, but not seeing him.  
He looked down at her, putting one of his hands over her wound to try and stop some of the bleeding. He had never dealt with this before. He had never seen one of his comrades get seriously injured, especially from a jerk like that. He should have just knocked him out before, when he had the chance. Hell, he should have let Elena shoot him. Then, this would have been avoided.

"I'm here, 'Lena, don't worry," he said, taking her other hand in his, which was still shaking. A tear fell from her eye as the shock was over and the pain set in. She let out a quiet cry. He squeezed her hand for a moment. Seeing her…anyone, in such pain was horrible to watch. He wished their places could be exchanged. He'd rather die than see someone else dying. Especially her.

He then heard a car racing up to them. A few men in suits came out with a stretcher, picking Elena up and putting her on it. "Be careful…" Reno said quietly to them, putting his hands in his pockets as he let go of her hand.

They carried her into the vehicle and Reno climbed in, sitting next to her. One of the medics gave her a painkiller as she cried out in pain again. "This should quiet her down," he said to Reno. He noticed the worried look on the young man's face and raised an eyebrow. He didn't think Turks cared for one another so much. The car rushed back to ShinRa Headquarters, taking her to the medical ward. "Sorry, sir, you're going to have to stay outside while we operate," the man told him.

Reno nodded slowly, though he did not want to let them take her away. He didn't want to leave her side until he knew for sure she was going to be all right, but he had to abide.

Several hours passed, and Elena had been moved to her own room in the medical ward. She had stabilized and the bullet was removed. She was also awake, but her eye lids were heavy from painkillers so it appeared as though she was asleep. She heard voices outside her door and hoped it was Reno. She could not fully remember what had happened before and after she was shot, just that it had hurt, a lot. But, she distinctively heard Tseng's voice. She felt a pang of nervousness as the door opened.

"I don't care what happened. She was reckless," Tseng said to someone as footsteps entered the room.

"You weren't there though!" Reno protested.

"I am aware, Reno, and keep your voice down please," Tseng said, glancing over at Elena, whom he thought was fast asleep.

"Sorry," he said quietly. "It's just, you don't know the circumstances."

"Oh, I know the circumstances. You brought her out drinking with you, she had too much and was not aware of her idiotic actions."

Elena was listening and felt her pang of nervousness go away, being re-filled with sadness. Tseng did not have faith in her. And he didn't know the full story.

"She was defending us, her actions weren't idiotic. They were courageous," Reno said, moving over to stand beside her bed.

Tseng remained at the foot at her bed, "Well, apparently her courage almost got her killed and can be mistaken for reckless behavior."

Reno ran a frustrated hand through his red hair, "Look, boss, just….she wasn't being reckless. You can trust me on that."

Tseng scoffed at him, "Trust you? You're the one that brought her into that environment."

Reno clenched his fist. Since when did Tseng become so unyielding? "I brought her with me so that she could get out of this building for once and stop fawning over you all day," he rolled his eyes. "Seriously, you should just tell her to give it up. It's not fair to lead her on like that."

Tseng folded his arms, "We're not discussing that right now, Reno. And it's not my fault Elena does not go out and have fun. It is probably better that way, at least she would stay out of trouble."

"She wasn't in trouble!" Reno's voice rose for a moment, "It was just someone who doesn't like ShinRa coming after us. It happens all the time! It was going to happen to her sooner or later. She was being strong and defending herself as a Turk. I don't know how much more Turk-like you can get!"

Elena could barely believe what she was hearing. Maybe the painkillers were affecting her. Tseng was making her out to be a bad Turk and Reno was defending her? Her head was spinning.

Tseng shook his head with an annoyed sigh, "It does not matter. I am going to have to put this incident in her file and re-consider her position. I am afraid that another incident like this could easily happen again. We do not want a Turk who makes such rash decisions and lets herself get attacked so easily."

Elena's mouth parted for a moment. She would be fired….for getting hurt? This was making no sense. How could Tseng be saying such things? She moved her head to the side facing away from Reno as she felt her eyes welling up. She could not stand the thought of not being a Turk. She had nothing else in her life. Being a Turk was her life. The people she worked with were all she had. She knew nothing else. She had always worked hard just to become one and having it all be taken away for no good reason was too much for her to handle. She felt a tear escape her eye, streaming down her cheek and landing on the pillow underneath her head. The arguing men did not seem to notice.

Reno's mouth hung open in disbelief. "You're going to fire her for this?"

"No…I am going to reconsider her position and decide what would be the best course of action," Tseng calmly replied.

"If you let her go, I'm going, too. This is just bullshit," Reno said, shaking his head and stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"I'll keep that in mind," Tseng said as he walked out of the room, practically slamming the door behind him.

Reno let out a loud sigh, pulling up a chair beside Elena's bed. "Sorry, 'Lena, I'll fix this, don't worry."

Elena sniffled quietly. She turned her head, forcing her eyes to open slightly. She saw the blurry figure of Reno beside her. He noticed the tear streak down her cheek. Her voice was feeble and meek as she spoke, "I…I don't want to get fired."

"Shit, you were listening," Reno said under his breath. He reached over and took her hand in his, squeezing it softly. He decided to change the subject, "You scared the shit out of me back there, Elena."

Elena tried to squeeze his hand back, but failed. She hadn't regained all of her strength yet. "Sorry…"

He offered a small smile, "Hey, it's not your fault you got shot. I wasn't expecting it either. Hell, I wish it would have been me instead. Then, you'd be the one arguing with Tseng. I'm sure you'd prefer that, right?" he said, trying to lighten the mood.

Her eyes looked downwards before she let her eyelids fall over her eyes again, "No…you were right. He doesn't like me like that… He thinks I am a horrible Turk."

Reno frowned, reaching over and putting his fingertips under her chin, lifting her head up slightly, "Elena look at me." She slowly forced her eyes to open halfway. "He doesn't think you're a horrible Turk. He just doesn't understand what happened. He thinks it's both of our faults for different reasons. And, you know what? Who cares if he doesn't like you? He must be blind, dumb, and deaf not to want you, okay? So, don't be so offended or upset about it. Because, really, if he doesn't like you, then he's an idiot."

Elena tried to smile, but only managed to pull the corners of her mouth up slightly, "I wish you weren't so charming, Reno."

Reno arched an eyebrow at her comment, "Oh yeah? I don't consider myself charming, I just tell it like it is."

Elena closed her eyes for a few moments again, but her half-smile remained, "This may be the drugs talking, but…you're really nice to me and I really appreciate it. I think if I would have been with anyone else last night, they would have just left me there to die…"

He furrowed his eyebrows, "What? You can't be serious. Who would do that?"

She let out a quiet laugh, which turned into a cough, "Tseng would."

Reno frowned for a moment, then let his mouth turn into a smirk, even if she wasn't looking, "No, then he wouldn't be able to file his report and make you feel stupid for getting hurt."

Elena managed to smile a little more, "Yeah, you're probably right." She yawned quietly before saying, "Anyway, thanks, Reno. I mean it." Within a few moments, she was fast asleep.

He watched her with a small smile. He had been so worried, not that he would tell anyone, of course. But, during the crucial time between her life and death in the operating room, he had been a wreck. He had paced back and forth continuously, while trying to calmly tell Tseng and President Rufus what had happened. Neither believed anything was his fault, except the drinking and had continued to question Elena's abilities. He was still pretty pissed at them as he watched her sleep and would fight for her right to be a Turk, or die trying. He knew she was an excellent Turk, better than him by far. He wouldn't let her get fired so easily. He reached his free hand up, moving some of her messy hair out of the way before planting a soft kiss on her forehead. He felt her hand twitch slightly in his grasp, then looked at her face, the half-smile forming in her dreams. He sat there wondering what she could be dreaming about until he soon fell asleep, his forehead planted on the side of her bed.

Afternoon had arrived by the time she had awoken again. The sun was coming into her hospital room through the slats in the blinds. She blinked her eyes a few times, realizing they were much easier to open now. The pain in her stomach was still there, and she gradually remembered everything that had transpired the day before. She then felt something in her hand. She looked over and saw the bright red hair resting on the side of her bed, his hand still loosely holding onto hers. She couldn't help but smile. It was strange seeing Reno be so caring towards her, especially since he always was the one to pick on her and joke around with her on missions and around the office. Maybe all this time, there was something there, but she just never picked up on it? She had no idea, but she distinctively remembered Reno's tone when they spoke about Tseng. He definitely had sounded jealous. He could deny it all he wanted, but she knew. The thought made her blush. Did Reno really have feelings for her? She wasn't completely sure, and she really wasn't sure how she felt about him. She just knew that she felt differently around him than she did around Tseng. She felt so cared for, so appreciated, so comfortable. It was a strange feeling, but it was a kind of warmth. Did she have feelings for him?

She knew that Reno was the drunkard, womanizer of the group, but maybe that was just a cover. Maybe he was just hiding something. Something he didn't want anyone to know, especially her. Maybe last night he was trying to tell her something. Her head was practically spinning from all the possibilities. She wanted to know for sure, but didn't know how to tell. Reno was always a mystery to her. And now she was intrigued.

She heard him mumbling something in his sleep about keeping the drinks coming and moved her thumb over the top of his hand softly to gently wake him up. However, he startled awake, looking around quickly. Elena's eyes widened, "Umm, Reno?" she asked cautiously.

"What? Oh…whoa, sorry, 'Lena. I forgot where I was," he said as the hospital room came into focus. He then looked at her with concern in his eyes, "How are you feeling?"

Elena smiled a little, "I'm okay…it still hurts a lot, but hey, I'm not dead. So, I say we win."

Reno forced a smile, letting go of her hand and realizing he was still feeling worried about her and not completely ready to joke about it. "Yeah, well, I'm just glad you're all right. I thought you were a goner.."

She sat up slowly, putting a hand over wound and nodded, "I know…it was bad. I'm sorry…"

"What are you sorry for? Elena, how many times do I have to tell you it's not your fault?"

She smiled a little, "Just one more time I guess. I just feel bad because I got you in trouble."

He leaned back in his chair, shrugging his shoulders, "I'm always in trouble somehow, so don't worry about it. Just concentrate on getting better, okay?" She watched as he stood up. "I need to go talk to Tseng about all of this."

She nodded, "All right…good luck."

He put his hand on her head, messing her hair a bit and smiled slightly, "Yeah, I'm sure I'll need it." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and left her room, making his way to Tseng's office.

A couple weeks had passed, and Elena had mostly recovered. She was up and about the Headquarters now, actually filing a report about the incident, now that she knew for sure she was allowed to write a report. Reno had taken care of everything like he said. He was suspended for a few days for his manner of convincing Tseng, but they were both allowed to keep their positions as Turks. She just hoped he would be coming back soon because, frankly, she missed seeing him around ShinRa.

She finished her report and stood up slowly, a hand over her stomach as she walked over to the window, looking out over Midgar. She let out a sigh wondering where he could be, getting lost in her thoughts for a few moments.

Reno cheerfully strolled down the hall and saw her office door was open a crack, so he stepped inside without knocking. He saw that she didn't seem to notice him yet and his usual smirk returned to his face as he quietly made his way over to her. As he put his chin on her shoulder, he said, "Morning, 'Lena."

She practically jumped ten feet in the air as she was snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh my god, Reno, don't ever do that again!" She moved her hand to her chest as she tried to catch her breath and let her heart beat get back to normal.

"Surprised, eh?" Reno said with a playful grin.

"Yeah, I would definitely say so," she said moving her hand back to her stomach.

"That still bothering you?" he asked, indicating to her wound.

She shook her head, "Only sometimes. It doesn't hurt as much anymore."

He nodded, "That's good. I was worried 'bout you, you know."

She felt her cheeks flush as she looked back towards the window, "Oh, really? Well, that's nice."

He reached over, putting his fingertips underneath her chin and moving her head to face his, "Is that a blush I see?" He gasped, "Is Elena actually blushing?"

She felt her cheeks grow even warmer, "N-no, I'm not! Stop it!" She pushed his hand away and looked away from him quickly.

He laughed out and reached over again, messing her hair. "It's so easy to get to you, you know."

She crossed her arms, waiting for the blush to fade before looking back to him, "Hmph. I don't know what you're talking about."

His grin widened, "You're so adorable."

Elena's arms slowly fell to her side, "What…?"

"You are so adorable, Elena," he repeated.

"Oh…uh, um, thanks, Reno," she said nervously.

"You know, 'Lena, after you got shot, I realized something…can you please look at me when I say this? I don't care if you're blushing…it's just even more adorable."

Elena smiled a little, turning to meet his eyes, "Hmm?"

He put his hands on her shoulder, looking deeply into his eyes. Elena could tell whatever he was going to say, he was dead serious. "I was a mess when you got shot. I was shaking and pacing and honestly, I had no idea what to do. I started to think, 'What if she dies?' and that thought scared the shit out of me. I didn't want you to die. You wanna know why?"

Elena simply nodded.

"Because I was afraid I would never get the chance to kiss you."

Elena's mouth fell open for a moment. She didn't know what to say. She just stared at him in astonishment.

"I'm not going to miss my chance now."

He moved his hands up, cupping her cheeks in his hands. He slowly leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. She paused for a moment before putting her hands against his sides and kissing him back softly. Kissing her was different than any other kiss he had shared with any other woman. He put real emotion in this kiss and could feel her feelings in the kiss she returned. He smiled into is as he noticed she tasted like strawberries and honey, a combination that surprised him, but only caused him to deepen the kiss. As he continued, he only wanted more of her.

They stayed that way for a couple minutes, the kiss turning more passionate with the feelings for each other they had had stored away for so long.

The need for oxygen caused them to finally break the kiss. They both stared at each other for a moment before Elena finally let out a, "Wow."

"Yeah," Reno agreed, a genuine smile appearing on his face. He pulled her closer as they shared another kiss, "Oh, and I actually was jealous, just to let you know."

Elena smiled confidently, "I knew it."

The two laughed as he brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face before kissing her softly, "You're one hell of a woman, 'Lena."


End file.
